The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-12-17
Editnrial 8riets.
BY REV. I. M. ATWOOD, D. D.
Canton. N. Y.

SO0'J uhoU "AAtS ldoOref5 In the North
and colored men in the South agree in
their hostility to temperance, both practi.
cally and politically. This accord of
sentiment on this subject shows that
they belong to the same family: if proves
also, that they do not know what their
interests really are, and that they do not go
much need more opportunity as to know
how to use the opportunity they have.
1t used to be taught that the welfare
OF men In every department of life de.
pends on their getting right morally. In
recent years we have been studying the
effect OF physical and social and property
conditions on the virtue an6 happiness Of
the people. Some OF us have been ouite
carried away with the new gospel of ply
sical and industrial salvation and have
committed ourselves to the doctrine that If
we give everybody chance, Utopia will
ensue But 1t Is doubtful if we are right
IN this. In country like ours most peo-
pie have more liberty and wider oppor-
tunlty than they know how wisely TO use.
We are showing to all the rest of the
world, and should be proving to ourselves
That dlscontent grows out of Ignorance
selhshness, ambition, lust as readily nc
out OF poverty, injustice and oppression
-Ihe moral health of a people is NOT
necessarily promoted by increase of com.
Tort, wealth. room for enterprise. It de-
pends on the race qualities of the peonle
thus favored, or on the amount Of moral
qu1ckenmg which they experience coinoi.
oently with their accession of TEMPORAL
goods The early New Englanders had
more than enough of Puritanism: bnt if
wave of Puritanism could flow over o,,r
foreign population and our lately eman.
clPafed and enfranchised natives. and
some OF it soak in, it would be an nm
speakable blessing to them and to the
nation.
we Judge from the writings of iur.
lists and from a study of the proceedings
OF courts, that the officers of the law are
led by their position to dwell on tbe do-
terrent effect of the punishment of criroo
mat Is what punishment means to them
10 reduce 1t In severity is to say to Of
tenders that the State has less obiectio,,
TO crime than formerly. This is the habit
Oh mmo OF judges and of officers of the
law, generally. Hence mitigation Of
punishment rarely comes from suoyas-
uons OF courts; they come from public sen-
timenf' from legislatures, and from eYac-
utlye recommendation, rather.
+ 1t Is, perhaps we'll that courts and
Jurlsts are conservative: especially y, o.,
age when the tendency in all civiIizo5
countries Is steadily toward regarding
wee and crime rather as diseases "oueIifv.
ing their unfortunate victim for a hos
pltal' than as causes for Just hatred and
Vlndlctige punishment" in the lanonoco
OF Justice Stephen. But a nrofonpdor
study OF the causes of crime must Iee9
any fair mind to the conclusion. that tho
mode or the amount of punishment ex-
erts far less influence on the comnissio,,
OF evil acts than the PREVAILING Iooo1
theories suppose. After they transoress
men minds are turned on the punisb-
ment; before, and in the very act of
Grimm mallty, they are occupied with tbe
temptation or passion. Conseouencaa
have very little weight with them.
While we think that punisbments sra
sanitary, not only as a terror to evil
doers, but still more to mark the feolino.
OF Indignation and adherence which =
righteous public entertains toward crimo
we are persuaded that crimes are not so
much affected by the punisbmepts visited
on them as by other causes. IF II r,oro
possible to double the severity OF the
punshments for all crime, we believe tbot
III ten years 1t would be found to have
produced no effect on the commission ~
crime. The springs of character n,r,ot ho
reached to diminish crimes. To rad,,oo
want and temptation, to multiply tbe
sources OF culture and religion. to invoke
the higher enthusiasms. are tba r,o,o
excellent ways.
If the competent testimony y, n
John A. Lord may be accepted. there are
some serious drawbacks to the gaporoI
excellence Of the German sebool uo
represents that the drill and routina and
omp1present machinery of the German
sy stem' gradually drains off the cbaerfrI-
ness of the German youth, bapisbes tboir
sports. overtaxes their eyes, and Their
brains, and makes them critical on5
quarrelsome at the expense of health ar7
spirits, If Prof Lord may be beIioyeJ
the German schools and universities oro
turning the German nation into or;D,
testy, skeptioal beery and belIiperent
people. o'0"'
No American, not even Gen. Grant
has ever received such welcome from,
the English people as the Boston prizs
lighter John L. Sullivan. This as our
esteemed contemporaries remark. is
significant fact. 1t would seem to sig-
nlfy that in the opinion OF our British
cons us, John L. Sullivan is our CHIEF
citizen. The English crazs over Buffalo
Bill snd pugilist Sullivan proves that the
+ gland Of Victoria is the same in Grain
as the England OF Harold.